Anthropic watermarks Claude text under EU rules, Google searches surge
Anthropic just started adding hidden watermarks to all text from its Claude AI, thanks to new European Union rules that say AI content must be labeled.
Almost instantly, people began searching for ways to erase these marks: Google saw a 60% jump in "AI watermark remover" searches in just one week.
Removal tools surge, Anthropic defends marks
Tools like Watermarks Remover on GitHub are blowing up, with over 15,000 stars already. Even educators like Sabrina Ramonov are making their own versions.
But not everyone's thrilled; creator Guillaume Meyer says, "I am all for content attribution" and "I am against the watermarking technique, and that's a very significant distinction."
Anthropic says the marks only show possible AI use and don't affect your rights, but the back-and-forth between tracking and removing keeps heating up as AI grows.